Friday, 7 September 2018

Getting More for Christmas this Year

Christmas is the time of the year for spending and most of us start worrying about it as soon as September comes around. Instead of using all that energy worrying, this year you should put it into forward planning and smart spending so that you’ll make your advisors at Credit Fix proud!

Read on to learn about nine ways to get more bang for your buck this festive season.

Make a sensible budget and stick to it

This is by far the easiest and most effective step to staying on track over Christmas. Write down your budget – for each person, for food, for new Christmas decorations and for travel – and stay within it. You may allow yourself a small amount of leeway for, say, unexpected guests, but make it a small one.

Book travel early

If you have definite travel plans for Christmas, then book your train or plane tickets as soon as you can to get the best prices. Typically, the cheapest tickets are on sale 12 weeks before the journey, which takes you to the first week in October or thereabouts.

Use cashback schemes

There’s lots of reliable cashback sites online so before you hit “buy now”, see if the retailer is on one of them. Click through to the retailer from the cashback site and then make the purchase. Some bank accounts also offer cashback deals, so take a wander through your online banking app and see what you can find. It’ll earn you a few pounds to ease the January frugality!

Spend some time looking for discount codes

It’s simple – just Google the shop or retailer name and then “discount codes”. Do this every time you’re about to buy something as there’s often 20% discounts up for grabs, or just free delivery. Whatever it is, if you average 10% off all your purchases and you’re planning to spend £1,000, then that’s £100, right?

Don’t forget your loyalty card

If you have a number of loyalty cards then make sure you use them wherever and wherever you can. Even if you’ve neglected them up until now, it’s never too late to bust them out so that you build up some rewards for Christmas. Keep an eye out for promotions – double point events and so on – and watch the numbers rise.

Use your free Amazon Prime offer

Amazon often offers one month of its free Prime service, which means no delivery fees. If you’re going to be doing some of your shopping online, it’ll save you quite a bit, especially when it comes to those last-minute bargains.

Speaking of last-minute bargains

Wait until December 22 or December 23 to order last-minute supplies or presents as they’ll often be knocked down quite a bit. Don’t chance it with main presents though, unless you’re confident they’ll still be in stock.

Abandon your shopping cart

Leaving your online shopping cart waiting at the checkout for a few days often results in an email from the retailer offering you a tidy discount for completing the purchase. Try it!

Empty your freezer

Everyone’s guilty of leaving food in the freezer and forgetting about it. Commit to finding these hidden treasures – some stew you bagged up two months ago, two lonely fish fingers or a neglected bag of petits pois – so that you can skip a weekly shop. Not only does this save money, it creates space for all those Christmas goodies!